Any ideas on storing wheel cutters, horz mill?

I am moving into my home shop after 65 years of heavy machining, I need to store over 1000 cutters of every type from slitting saws to gear cutters and not a lot of room. Show me what you have done, thanks ...Phil

For that qty I would do plastic akro bins with similar cutters in each one, with a piece of cardboard between each of them. Stack them vertical like in a card file. To get really organized write the size of the cutter on each cardboard divider so it is easy to find what you are looking for when you need it. Then line up the bins on shelves.

I'll get some photos tomorrow, but I put shell mills and larger cutters (more than 5" diameter, or wider than diameter) in shallow drawers in a cabinet, and made some "trough" trays out of various sizes of SDR pipe cut in half on the bandsaw with expanded PVC endcaps and bases. The smaller plain milling cutters stand in the troughs, stored on shelves. I didn't bother putting cardboard between adjacent cutters, but it is a good idea.

[Added in edit]
Here you can see several different sizes of SDR pipe. The only thing remotely fussy about making these is adjusting a circle cutter (or boring head) to make a circular notch on the central foot/base/support that matches the pipe OD. Assembled with nothing more than PVC pipe cement.

I am moving into my home shop after 65 years of heavy machining, I need to store over 1000 cutters of every type from slitting saws to gear cutters and not a lot of room. Show me what you have done, thanks ...Phil

Start selling them for starters?

Pick the top 100 you will be most likely to use, sell the rest.

Lybarger's Corollary sez all the ones you actually need will have been sold and you'll have to re-acquire. But only ten.

Not a BAD deal.

You'll have cash from 900, and have saved a great deal on storage as well!

Besides.. 65 years under yer belt?

How much longer d'you figure you will even remember you have one before you've gone off and ordered a new one anyway?

DAMHIKT!

Not until I first figure out how socket wrenches and Allen keys are birthing clones in between uses.

I love when people try to convince you to sell off YOUR stuff for THEIR reasons. I'm guessing with 1000 horizontal cutters you won't know what you have until you store them properly, which is what this thread was started for. If I had this many cutters I would buy a vidmar or something similar with large drawers and make custom racks to hold em, cutting large pvc pipe lengthways seemed like a good thought. Then sort each one by size/thickness/etc. and label each drawer with the range that's in there.

I solved many of my storage problems making oiled wood storage boxes that are designed to pack as much in to a small space as possible. I would make storage boxes that are small enough to lift, and designed to stack, boxes similar to the storage boxes for change gears.
Small thin and tight, for a single object

I store mine on rods of allthread fitted to flat sheets of chipboard, the boards are attached to the wall. My allthreads are sticking out about eight inches from the board. The outer ends are drilled and tapped to take button head screw so the cutters won't fall off.
The allthread are positioned to suit the cutter diameters.
This releases valuable drawer space.

I store mine on rods of allthread fitted to flat sheets of chipboard, the boards are attached to the wall. My allthreads are sticking out about eight inches from the board. The outer ends are drilled and tapped to take button head screw so the cutters won't fall off.
The allthread are positioned to suit the cutter diameters.
This releases valuable drawer space.

Not a BAD idea, but still. The buggers can get awlfully HEAVY for chip-board.

Similar approach, one might mount Unistrut "type" channel, and stoutly so, then just use ignorant 8" or so ready-made Hex head - or "carriage" bolts ... into Tee-nuts.

Retention needs no drilling or tapping. No threads impinging on the cutter-wheel bore - one could even slip PVC or elastomeric cord-in "heater" hose over the bolt shanks .. so they don't rattle when the odd Earthquake hits...

And spacing becomes adjustable, different sizes of wheel come and go.

"So far" I like the splitting of pipe into troughs.

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Personally.. I'd want 'em only "one wheel deep". Not into playing "Towers of Hanoi" with juggling several items of sharpish-edged goods to get at the second or third one back. So my modest collection - a mere three or four dozen, are all still lying flat and unrestrained on a bit of cheap carpet-runner, sheet of VPI paper-under, in several ordinary drawers.

I like the peg idea,s, I did store them in vidmar cabs, but I dont have the room and the vadmars will sell for big bucks more than the cutters are worth. I wish I had a time machine to tell me what I will need , but I dont what to give the cutters away on ebay and ship too boot. I have almost every gear and spline cutter known and that is real handy. Also being retired the big bucks will not be there to buy the nice new cutters....Phil

That gives me an idea, maybe rows of Hanging hooks sliding on the hooks on pegboard, or plywood and 1/2" rod equivalent.
Similar to the way they hang blister packs in the toy store, or the Target, so you can "stack" them horizontally, but access each one individually

Kinda like:
_______
L L L L L

I got a whole bunch of'em, and I've been wondering how to store them myself

Ran into this same issue when I tooled up my No.4 Cincinnati years ago. I tried to come up with all kinds of cool storage methods. What finally was easiest was drawer/milk crate depending on size divided by cardboard if they needed it. Some don't have sharp sides so can sit against others.

3" - 5":

6":

7"-8":

9" - 10":

I did get a little more fancy for the quick change, CAT holders and EM holders. But still just a open bottom box with holes in it.

I know this is not neat looking or anything but they go by diameter and within diameter thinnest to thickest. So takes no time at all to pull out the exact one I want to use. Then again I only have about half as many as you.

Slab mills, face mills, end mills, and shell mills are in drawers or on shelves depending on size. The 10" T-Max's have their own box. Hate to know what Sandvik was charging for those new but it makes them easy to store.

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